Karl E. Hertz

Councilman Karl E. Hertz was born in January of 1972 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He was raised in the small farming community of Malvern, Iowa, along with his two younger brothers, Keith and Kent. Karl’s parents, Karl M. and Terry, owned and operated the Mansfield-Hertz Funeral Home, where Karl was first introduced to the concepts of empathy, citizenship, and listening. At 16, Karl was the youngest licensed EMT in Iowa and went on to serve as a volunteer EMT and Firefighter for 20 years. Karl graduated from Malvern Community High School in 1990 and then attended Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, and graduated in 1994 with his BS in Public Relations and Communications. Following graduation, Karl worked as a District Executive for the Pony Express Council of the Boy Scouts of America in St. Joseph, MO.

Karl and his wife Teresa were married in 1995; they later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Karl attended the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. Following his graduation in 1997, he and Teresa returned to Malvern where they joined his parents in operating the family-owned Funeral Home. Karl and Teresa eventually moved to Carson and then Glenwood, Iowa, where Karl managed funeral homes in both communities. In May of 2011, Karl, Teresa, and their children - Jakob, Megan, and Kiley - moved to Douglas where Karl served as the Marketing and Recruitment Manger for Memorial Hospital of Converse County (MHCC). In 2012, Karl was promoted to the role of Assistant Administrator for MHCC, where he continues to serve.

Karl is an active member of the Douglas community and has served as a Board Member on The Enterprise, Bobbie’s House, and St. James Catholic Church. In 2016, Karl graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, with his MA in Organizational Leadership. He serves Gonzaga on the Servant-Leadership Advisory Board and continues to work his colleagues on leadership theory and application. Karl is a member of the Wyoming Hospital Association, the American Hospital Association, and the American College of Healthcare Professionals.

In January 2019, Karl was appointed to the Douglas City Council, and the City is looking forward to working with Karl. Our community is lucky to have him and his family now calling Douglas home!